Blog of Dr. Miland Brown that features different aspects of world history. Not everything can be covered but sites dealing with any historical issue or topic are possible future posts. Also includes sites which discuss teaching history. Dr. Brown is an academic in North America.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Who Was the Better Roman Emperor?

Princeton researchers have created a website called All Our Ideas. It allows people to compare two ideas and vote on the one they think is best. So, for instance, the site asks, "What is our most important national priority?" You then click on one of two ideas. When you do, you're offered another pair of ideas. You're free to add your own suggestions, too.

Someone has set up a page there to ask Who Was the Better Roman Emperor? Very amusing but I am not sure if I can really say if Florianus was better than Galba. Other votes were easy. Augustus beats Caligula hand down.

Augustus gets My vote. Mainly because he stayed alive until the end of his rein. His social polices did for a period help the Romans prosper. Little Boots was a maniac I am surprised no one killed him sooner

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but rising every time we fall." This great quote comes from Confucius which has become a symbol of never giving up in the face of tough challenges. The same can be said for Caesar Augustus. I believe his Rome's most famous emperor because his legacy outshines in influence all the other emperors. His childhood was not a fun experience due to the lost of his parents. I believe this played a significant role in his development because afterwards he was adopted by Julius Caesar. He learned from his childhood that he needed to stay motivated and focus on the objective or bigger picture. This was a great lesson he learned from Julius Caesar. The principle of focusing on the big picture has created a positive legacy on the world today. Even though Augustus never really underwent boot camp, it is politically correct to state Augustus received a military-like education. Furthermore this gave him a chance to learn bad and good concepts along with strategies into becoming an effective leader. Since Julius Caesar was often self-centered and selfish, Augustus witnessed the negative affects. Ultimately it led to Julius’s murder on March 15th, 44 B.C.E. The leadership skills Julius passed off onto Augustus propelled him to overcome challengers to the throne and become Rome’ first emperor. Furthermore Augustus went on to carry on other Caesar lessons in fostering good public works programs for Rome. For example he created a fire department for the city of Rome to help prevent massive fires. Also he helped find ways to pay to maintain public works like plumbing and sewage. Unlike most of Julius’s reign, Augustus learned from this negative mistake and turned it into a positive one by working with the Senate despite having absolute power. In the eyes of the citizens this made Augustus a great guy. As a result Augustus was able to lay a foundation of ‘walking a line balance of power and responsibility.’ Often he did not flex his muscles of power for very long to disrupt or upset the public. As a result this cemented a foundation for the Roman Golden Age (Pax Romana). His style of ruling helped Rome grow into a more powerful Empire because rulers that followed him adopted his principles like Trajan and Vespesian. These rulers were able to properly use the power of being Emperor and grew Rome’s borders. Therefore spreading Greco-Roman culture and enlightening people and upgrading their social, political, and economic status. The guidance that these rulers practiced helped build two of Rome’s biggest cement legacies today: The Forum and Coliseum. What would Rome be like without these two important legacies? I believe Italy’s economy would be greatly smaller because not many people have a reason to go and visit the famous city. In addition looking past hundreds of years after Augustus’s rule and death a bigger question begs to be asked: What if Augustus had never existed? If Greco-Rome culture was not preserved or created to the extent to which it was, how could have Europe fought through the Black Plague that would motivate the Renaissance and the Age of Exploration which indirectly led to the founding and eventual creation of country? Thank you Caesar Augustus for your actions.

Caligula has been shamefully maligned by a corrupt senatorial elite who made up fairy tales to describe a man trying to reform a system Augusts left already collapsing from its unsustainable weight. Only two historians are sued for our knowledge of him, and they were hardly neutral, writing long after the events.We now know it was Incitatus who was the eminence gris behind the throne...